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Candidates call housing production and low-threshold units the core response to homelessness
Summary
Forum candidates said housing affordability must be addressed urgently and described reforms including ADUs, condominium-conversion limits, removing parking minimums and creating single-room-occupancy units; they also discussed Salem’s camping ordinance and the need for shelter and supportive services.
Candidates at the Salem forum identified housing production and low-threshold units as the principal tools to address homelessness and urged urgent action to expand housing across price points.
Several candidates highlighted specific local steps already taken or proposed: increasing accessory dwelling units (ADUs), eliminating parking minimums for multifamily housing, and a condo-conversion ordinance to protect rental stock. Alice Merkel said the city must create “very affordable housing” while producing housing across price points; she credited work on ADU changes and condo-conversion protections. Conrad Brosniewski urged stronger affordability requirements for large developments and said developers should be “held to a higher standard of affordability.” Ty Halfworth described supporting zoning reform and an “upzoning feasibility study” with Salem State’s Policy Lab to expand multifamily housing beyond the roughly 13% of Salem where it is currently allowed.
Single-room-occupancy (SRO) and shelter issues: Multiple candidates said SROs would help unhoused people by providing a locked door and minimal private space. Ty Halfworth and others said single-room occupancy is currently illegal in Salem and urged changing that. Candidates described the council’s April 2024 ordinance that prohibits camping on public property if shelter beds are available within 15 miles; speakers said the measure was intended to ensure the city provides shelter before prohibiting camping. Ty Halfworth said he voted against criminalizing homelessness and stressed housing is the solution; others, including Conrad Brosniewski and John Harvey, defended the ordinance as a response to unsafe encampments and said the city must provide shelter and address mental-health and substance-use drivers.
Quantities and need: Alice Merkel cited homelessness among students, saying “there were 179 Salem public school kids that are homeless” and that the number “is expected to be over 300 by the end of the school year.” Candidates agreed the situation is urgent and that housing production must be paired with supportive services.
Why this matters: Housing affordability and homelessness were framed as interconnected—lack of affordable housing drives homelessness and emergency shelter policies respond to visible encampments. Candidates emphasized both zoning and programmatic responses, including more production of units at varied price points and converting policy tools into low-threshold housing options.
Ending: Candidates urged urgent, coordinated local action on zoning, housing production, SRO legalization and supportive services; several asked for state and federal assistance for capital and program funding.
